Hip-high hosiery



April 29, 1969 R. w. RUSSELL 3,440,665

HIP-HIGH HOSIERY Filed Feb. 17. 1967 ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 2--240 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Hosiery composed of a pair of hip-high stockings interiorly slitted downwardly, and having a waist formed by joining the ends of the two slit waist portions at both the front `and rear by hook members each permanently secured to an end of one waist portion and releasably secured to a loop at an end of the other waist portion. The waist portions are preferably double welts in the tube ends of which there are secured bent-over tapes, a pair of which hold the hook members and a pair of which are slipped over the hooks on the hook members.

Summary of the invention With the wearing of higher and higher skirts, it has become more and more important that feminine hosiery cover not only the legs but the thighs of the wearer without any supporting means being visible. One immediate development was panty-hose, but these have `been found to lack the convenience in slipping ofi or down which is possessed by those panties which yare separate from the hosiery. They have been wom, however, because of the lack of satisfactory means for holding up thigh-covering stockings. The present invention is directed to the provision of garments comprising a pair of stockings each having leg, hip, and waist portions with the waist portions united at their ends by hook members each permanently secured to one end of `a waist portion and releasably secured to an adjacent end of the other waist portion; and to stockings adapted to form part of such a garment. In its more specific aspects, the invention contemplates the provision of stretchable waist portions of tubular construction-as, for example, a bent-down elastic welt top with ifs bent-down edge secured to the lower welt edge and to the hip portion by transfer mechanism and having the ends of bent-over loops secured in its open ends; two of the four bent-over lloops having the hook member permanently secured thereon, as by extending thru an elongated perforation therein, and the other .bent-over loops being adapted to be releasably slipped over the hook in the hook member.

The invention accordingly comprises a manufacture possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the articles hereinafter described and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

Brief description of the views of the drawings FIGURE l is a front view of an exemplified garment 1n use;

FIG, 2 is a front perspective View of one exemplified socking in a relaxed state and on an enlarged scale, fastening portions of -another stocking being shown also to facilitate an understanding of the Iarrangement when assembled;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the rear fastening means of FIG. 1 in unfastened condition on a further enlarged scale:

FIG. 4 is a plan View thereof:

FIG. 5 is a view lsimilar to FIG. 3 showing the fastening means in place in the tube ends of the waist portions; and

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FIG. 6 is a sectional view along the lines 6-6 of FIG. 5.

Detailed description As particularly exemplified, the invention, in one of its aspects, provides a garment 4 comprising a pair of stockings 5 and 6 united -at their upper ends to provide a single article of hosiery which is held up by a unitary waist 7. The invention, in another of its aspects, is embodied in each of the exemplified stockings.

The stocking 5 comprises a foot portion 11, a leg portion 12, a hip portion 13, and a waist portion 14, and the stocking 6 comprises a foot portion 15, a leg portion 16, a hip portion 17, and a waist portion 18, there being, in the present instance, no difference between the portions 11 and 15, or between the portions 12 and 16. The portions 13 and 17 are lsimilar to each other, and the portions 14 and 18 are similar to each other except that the upper parts of the stockings are open-as by slitting the upper portion of each stocking-not at corresponding sides, .but each at a side facing the open side of the other stocking; so that the open areas are at the interior of the garment. The stocking 5 is formed with a slit at 21 (at the left of the waist and the right of the drawing) extending thru the waist portion 14 and into or thru (as exemplified) the hip portion 13 thereof; `and the stocking i6 is formed with a slit at 22 (at the ri-ght of the waist and the left of the drawing) extending thru the waist portion 18 and into or thru (as exemplified) the hip portion 17 thereof. The slits 21 and 22 provide an opening 24 below the waist of the wearer.

The exemplified waist portions 14 and 18 are elastic and yare tubular in construction, being formed by providing a turned-over welt caught-down at 25. The slits 21 and 22 will thus have provided open tube ends 26 and 27 for the waist portion 14, and open tube ends 28 and 29 for the waist portion 18, and, in the present instance, each waist portion has had sewn thereto by stitching at 30 just inside one of the tube ends a bent-over loop 32 or 33 of tape.

In the present instance the tapes are one-half inch in width and are all-nylon or elastic woven or braided construction, and additional stitching may be provided at 35 thus permitting each line of stitching 30 to be as near a tube end as possible, thus interfering as little as possible with the stretchability of the elastic waist portions, tho this is, of course, unnecessary so far as other inventive features are concerned. It is also to be noted that, in the present instance, there is no difference between the loops 32 and 33, tho their functions differ from each other.

Each loop 32 extends permanently thru a vertical opening 39 in a fiat fastening member 40 having a vertical (downwardly-extending) hook 41 over which a loop 33 on the other stocking is slipped when the two waist portions are united (as after the stockings have been individually put in place) so as to releasably fasten the waist portions at the front and rear. It will be appreciated that, so long as one loop 32 and one loop 33 are provided at the front and one loop 32 and one loop 33 are provided at the rear, the invention in its broader aspects contemplates any desired arrangement of these loops with respect to the individual stockings forming the hip-high hosiery. As exemplified, however, one loop 32 and one loop 33 is provided on the front and rear, respectively, of the stocking S and one loop 32 and one loop 33 on the rear and front, respectively, of the stocking 6, so as to simplify the arrangement as well as to provide for easy interchangeability of stockings from the different pairs by turning one of them inside out. Y

In the provision of either of the stockings -5 and 6, the stocking may be knitted on a two-feed stocking machine. The welt is formed of ordinary (e.g. plied ZO-denier 7- filament S and Z turns per inch nylon) yarn on all the needles at one feed, and after the formation of a few courses, the second feed of elastic (e.g. nylon-covered 70-denier spandex or l40-denier bars spandex) yarn is introduced at suitable tension with a selection of spaced needles, so that the elastic yarn will only be caught in by every other, every third, every fourth, etc., needle to give a pleated effect.

After knitting the nylon and spandex a number of courses about twice the number in the waist portion, a transfer mechanism is put into operation, transferring the loop of the top course back on the needles, and thus making the tubular double welt. The selective mechanism is now idled, so that all needles will knit at both feeds; and the yarn =feed carrying the plied nylon and that carrying the spandex may both be removed from action and replaced with feeds for a light weight yarn (eg. denier, three-filament, 100-150 turns per inch, stretch nylon yarn). If desired, the hip portion may be made in a heavier (-70 denier) stretch yarn, 60-120 turns per inch, before shifting to a lighter weight yarn for the leg portion. The toe and heel portions may be made in any suitable manner (as from two S and Z plied 20denier, seven-filament, 80-90 turns per inch stretch nylon). Various other well known knitting and yarn arrangements may be employed.

Desrably, and as exemplified, the bottom of the slits 21 and 22 are bartacked at 45 to prevent running, or otherwise suitably stitched.

In some instances, and as exemplified, the knitting of the yarn in the hip portion may be varied at spaced intervals in a few contiguous courses as by inserting a tuck stitch after a number-eg. seven-of wales so as to provide spaced-eg. one or more inches-bands 48-e.g. one-quarter inch wide-in the hip portion to facilitate determinations such, for example, as the length of the hip. This arrangement may be made either in a stocking having hip and leg portions continuously knitted without change of yarn as exemplified, or in a stocking wherein the hip portion is formed of heavier yarn than the leg portion. Bands so formed are invisible to a casual observer or at any significant distance, so that they do not affect the appearance of the stocking when worn or the appeal of the stocking when displayed for purchase.

The slits are preferably from seven to nine inches long measured on the stretched stocking as worn on an average sized wearer.

The stockings may be preboarded before being slit, or may be preboarded after slitting.

I claim:

1. Hosiery comprising a pair each of leg portions, hip portions, and elastic waist portions, each unitary with a hip portion, each waist portion and at least the upper part of its hip portion being open down the side facing the other waist and hip portions, and fastening means interconnecting said waist portions and comprising a separate short tape with a hook at a front end of a waist portion, a separate short separate tape with a hook at a rear end of a waist portion, a short separate tape providing a loop at a front end of a waist portion and releasably extending over said front hook, and a separate short tape providing a loop at a rear end of a waist portion releasably extending over said rear hook, and means securing said separate short tapes to their respective waist portions so as to interfere to a minimum extent with the stretchability of at least the major portion of each elastic waist portion.

2. A garment as in claim 1 wherein each releasablyextending loop is secured to one of said ends of a waist portion, and wherein each hook is on a fastening member secured in the 'bentover portion of an additional loop which is secured to another end of a waist portion.

3. A garment as in claim 2 wherein each waist portion is bent down upon itself to form a tube, and the sides of said loops are inserted and secured in the open ends of said tubes.

4. A garment as in claim 1 wherein one of said hooks and one of said loops are provided on each of said waist portions.

5. A stocking comprising a leg portion, a hip portion, and a downwardly turned-over elastic waist portion secured in turned-over position to provide a tube at the top of the stocking, said waist portion and at least the upper end of the hip portion being downwardly slitted to open the ends of said tube and to permit the spread of the waist portion and of at least the upper part of the hip portion, a pair of short separate tapes each bent over upon itself to form a loop and each having its ends in a different one of the open ends of Said tube, and means securing said separate short tapes to their respective open ends so as to interfere to a minimum extent with the stretchability of at least the major portion of the elastic waist portion, and a fastening element permanently fastened to the loop of one of said tapes and carrying a hook for the reception of a tape providing a similar loop.

6. A stocking as in claim 5 wherein the hip and leg portions are continuously knitted without change of yarn at the yarn feeds.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,104,397 9/1963 Gant 2-141 XR 3,362,029 l/ 1968 Comerma 2-224 XR 989,024- 4/1911 Moses 2-240 143,947 10/1873 Weil 2-237 364,650 6/1887 Holmes 2--239 XR 2,733,448 2/1956` Stogoski 2-313 FOREIGN PATENTS 457,965 1/ 1945 Belgium. 855,082 ll/l952 Germany.

JAMES R. BOLER, Primaly Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 2-224 

